The best of Prog rock

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Information technology is the study of and use of computers and related systems for storing and using electronic information.

Some people are worried these days that the information society makes it more difficult for us to protect our privacy.

The BBC website asked its visitors: Do you think that your data is safe online or are you concerned about this too?

Here are a few answers from different parts of the world:

(In some of them you can notice incorrect use of English)

Eliza, ChinaI'll only talk about my own experience: I had used my real name on the internet, and my age, city and other information on my profiles were true. I also had use only one username on different sites. Once a contact on my msn searched my username on Google, then he knew my real name, address, phone number, posts on forums, blogs and other things. He told me about it, and warned me. It was when I realized that how unsafe and scary to put your real information on the internet. Now I've canceled all of my accounts, and deleted all of my information only to protect my privacy. I think people may not open their profiles unless they're celebrities, or who wants to be famous.

Sheyla, Germany

The information society has the problem to protect privacy on the one hand and to give freedom on the other hand. It is, in my opinion, better to be concerned about the data especially the issue of online banking. It would be a bad surprise to realize that somebody unauthorized has got this sensitive data of yours! But the possibility of, for example, online banking is so worthy that it would be ineffective for the information society to let it be. Security and protection is the most important thing in the www. Every user should insist on a safe usage with his data. This will be a signal that can't be unheard. Then the freedom of the users will become real.

Hoang, VietnamNowadays, people almost can not live without information society, not only industry but also people's everyday life. whereas, sometimes it is not safely using internet. many people like uploading photos on the blog, unfortunately, usually their privacy photos are illegally copied by the other strange people. as many people, I am keen on internet and concern about safety of my data online. Therefore, I add a code that just for my real friend to enter my blog. I think it is better way can protect my privacy.

Tatuli, GeorgiaLook around. Do you see how many cameras watching you? They are in every corner. What for they are needed? To keep you from doing something wrong from one side and to protect you from another. It is the same with Internet. Information technology must have something to keep some people from wrongdoing in Internet and therefore to protect the rest of them. But the best way to protect yourself is to remember that Internet is a public place and not you closet…

Vania, BrazilToday, privacy is something which everybody tries to keep. Although, many times we have been invaded by people sending us garbage emails. My email box is always getting messages from unknown people that I was the winner of something. Even though after I delete all, I go on receiving other ones. In my opinion, it is the face of two coins to live at the age of an information society; however, for one side it has been helping us to get all the news before starting the day. Although, on the another hand, every day I'm obliged to throw away all bad emails. It is the price to live in a world that is called developed so forth.

Eric, ChinaMany years ago, we created accounts on a website using our real name and ID number where we could send messages and communicate with classmates. Finally we could be found by public searching engine. There was no doubt that the website sold our private information to make a profit. After that I never public my real information to website you don't trust. So in information society, you must know how protect privacy when you are using internet.

ly, ChinaJust think about what it was like ten years before, I can not believe how can I survive in a world without any new information except from TV and radio... Thanks to IT development, people are connected together and the differences between cultures, countries, religions were minimized to some extent, which help to improve our communication.

Selina, ChinaNowadays, people almost can not live without information society, not only industry but also people's everyday life. whereas, sometimes it is not safely using internet. many people like uploading photos on the blog, unfortunately, usually their privacy photos are illegally copied by the other strange people. as many people, I am keen on internet and concern about safety of my data online. therefore, I add a code that just for my real friend to enter my blog. I think it is better way can protect my privacy.

Shaji, Saudi ArabiaOf course IT is very important factor each and every business. Same time people has been misusing the IT in all meaning it leads to interfering the privacy, which means we are not safe.

Luciano, Italy

I think there are more risks to allow too personal information in the Net, but if you know the Site and it is protect for example with secure connection we haven't problems.

Qanh, VietnamNowadays, we can't live without Internet. Through Internet, we receive any information we need. Beside, we also worry about that our previous information will be read and used by other people to do not good things. We should except this state because we are living in "information society" where we have both positive things and negative things.

Roy Chan, Hong KongThe Internet can help us to save many many times. It makes very convenience in our lives, such as e-banking and bidding. I use this services only at home.

Don't use these services in the public areas. If we use the Internet carefully, it can improve our lifestyle.

Henry, ChinaIn my opinion, everything has two sides at modern society, the information society becomes more and more important. we will not feel embarrassed if we could have access to the Internet. At meantime, we have to pay more attention to cut down our personal info on the internet to protect our privacy. To many rules to obey.

Tomoko, JapanWhether our data is safe or not is depending on us. Facebook, for instance, both are available which is to show our pictures to every users or restricted friends. We could choose if we will show them to everyone or not during the process of uploading pictures. I am very concerned about this problem, I never showed my pictures except my friends. Showing our data to strangers is dangerous because they might be abused where we don't know. In fact, lots of Japanese people committed suicide because of being abused their private data. Thanks of information society, everything became convenient. We can communicate with foreigners, show our pictures each other through the internet. But in contrast, it has a huge risk to make people die, even make people feel uncomfortable in a way.

Clara, SpainWe are living now a big revolution with information society. It has changed the way we are informed, the way we buy, the way we entertain, the way we relate with each others, the way we work and definitely the way we live. But this new information society has also its dangerous face, we put lots of personal and sensitive data in our computers or in servers, which lots of hackers and geeks have demonstrated can be stolen and used to commit delictive actions. No matter how many care you take to preserve your privacy, by means of security software, there is always someone who can uncover it by electronic means. As an example there are the last attacks to Google in China to steal user accounts, passwords and other sensitive information; and Google is one of the strongest giants in the information society. I think the best way to preserve your private data is not introduce them in the computer or in the net.

Mico, Chinaas you know. in the information society. many data on the line is open. even you set secretly. most of computer expert can also share it in some special way.

Dório, BrasilI think my data isn't safe online, because I use wireless net, and there are a lot of hackers, here and anywhere, with your antennas waiting de prefect moment for spy others PCs. I'm concerned about this too.

Carla Diéguez, BrazilI think the information society is so fantastic, because I can go to every places in world and I can acess my datas in all places, without need to carry my stuffs (computers, pen drivers, portable hd). The internet provides the mobility for everybody.

Deimante, LithuaniaNowadays people can't imagine life without internet, telecommunications, so without any doubt, a term 'information society' is absolutely reasonable. Nonetheless, as every good thing it has negative side too. For instance, a mission to keep computer totally safe is almost impossible, so our data is always in danger. Talking about my personally experience, I've faced with similar problem and my advice is to protect a computer as much as possible and use it wisely.

Seong-Mee, KoreaI think that Information society is useful to human. and nowadays it is necessary. But I believe that Information society is not always good. Sometimes I am afraid of my privacy being known by anyone.

Trinh, VietnamObviously, the more people to connect to the Internet, the greater information they upload. Also, they spend too much time on the websites. Facebook, for example, is receiving a lot of information and they can sell the information of the users for the advertising companies, etc. In my opinion, the development of the information society, at the same time, means the loss of users privacy.

Jose D Gamez, VenezuelaI think some data is safe online because many people have access to general information. I have saw in the internet many search engine such as Google, Terra, etc., where you are able find general information about our countries such as agriculture, history, culture, the economy, population, education, natural resources, tourism services, scientist advance, technology , etc., that is part of information society. It's good has freedom access, because when you want to go to some place, you can to consult about it in the internet and make your schedule. Also you can investigate any topic for your studies or work. So we have other data which could be confidential and restricted only for the government use.

Elena, SpainI feel enough safe in the net, but I try to have caution, but I used to buy a lot of things and my trips and my tickets and I never had problems

Hiep, VietnamSociety today need more information, through computer networks people come near what they want. I think that private problems firmly is protected by legislation.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Cats are the most popular pets among Americans. So it is not surprising that there are many expressions about cats. Some cats like to catch small birds, like canaries. If someone looks very proud or satisfied with himself, we say helooks like the cat that ate the canary.

Sometimes, a cat likes to play with a small animal it catches.

So if youplay cat and mouse with someone, you change between different kinds of behavior when dealing with another person. For example, a child might offer something sweet to her little brother and then take it away when he reaches for it.

A cat will often catch a small animal and present it to its owner. The saying that looks like something the cat dragged indescribes something in bad condition.

Two old and funny expressions describe something that is the best or finest. Americans might say that something isthe cat's meowandthe cat's pajamas.

Children might call a child who is easily frightened afraidy cator ascaredy cat. Acopycatis someone who acts just like someone else or copies another person's work. Afat catis a person with a lot of money.

You may have known that cats spend most of their time sleeping. Sometimes people sleep for a short time during the day. This is called acat nap.

If you tell about something that was supposed to be a secret, we say youlet the cat out of the bag. If you are not able to speak or answer a question someone might ask ifthe cat has got your tongue.

Have you ever watched children in a classroom when their teacher leaves for a few minutes?When the cat's away, the mice will playmeans people sometimes misbehave when there is no supervision.

You may have heard this expression:curiosity killed the cat. This means being too concerned about things that are not your business might cause problems.

If your home is very small, you might saythere is not enough room to swing a cat.But you probably should not try this at home!

If you ever had cats as pets, you know it is difficult to train them or to get them to do something. Cats are not like sheep or cows that can be moved in a group. So we say a difficult or impossible job islike herding cats.

When it comes to relationships, people’s eyes can be a window into their hearts. This means that their eyes can tell a lot about how they feel. We will tell a story about a man and woman who are teachers at the same school. The woman is interested in the man. She uses many methods tocatch his eye, or get him to notice her. Once hesets eyes onher, or sees her, she might try to get him interested in her by acting playful. In other words, she might try tomake eyes athim orgive him the eye.

Let us suppose that this man getshit between the eyes. In other words, the woman has a strong affect on him. He wants to spend time with her to get to know her better. He asks her out on a date.

She is so happy that she may walk around for days withstars in her eyes. She is extremely happy because this man is theapple of her eye, a very special person. She might tell him that he is the only person she wants, or“I only have eyes for you.”

On their date, the couple might eat a meal together at a restaurant. If the man is really hungry, hiseyes might be bigger than his stomach. He might order more food than he can eat. When his food arrives at the table, hiseyes might pop out. He might be very surprised by the amount of food provided. He might not evenbelieve his own eyes. If fact,all eyeswould be watching him if he ate all the food. This might even causeraised eyebrows. People might look at the man with disapproval.

During their dinner, the couple might discuss many things. They might discover that theysee eye to eye, or agree on many issues. They share the same beliefs and opinions. For example, they might agree that every crime or injury should be punished. That is, they firmly believe in the idea of aneye for an eye. They might also agree that it is wrong topull the wool over a person’s eyes. This means to try to trick a person by making him believe something that is false. But the man and woman do not believe in the evil eye, that a person can harm you by looking at you.

The next day, at their school, the woman asks the man tokeep an eyeon, or watch the young students in her class while she is out of the classroom. This might be hard to do when the teacher is writing on a board at the front of the classroom. To do so, a teacher would need to haveeyes in the back of his head. In other words, he would know what the children are doing even when he is not watching them.

A person’s nose is important for breathing and smelling. The nose is also used in many popular expressions.

Some people are able tolead other people by the nose. For example, if a wife leads her husband by the nose, she makes him do whatever she wants him to do.

Some people are said to behard-nosed. They will not change their opinions or positions on anything. If someone is hard-nosed, chances are he will neverpay through the nose, or pay too much money, for an object or service.

It is always helpful when peoplekeep their nose outof other people’s business. They do not interfere. The opposite of this is someone whonoses aroundall the time. This kind of person is interested in other people’s private matters. He is considerednosey.

Someone who keeps hisnose to the grindstoneworks very hard. This can help a workerkeep his nose cleanor stay out of trouble.

One unusual expression is that isno skin off my nose. This means that a situation does not affect or concern me. We also say that sometimes a personcuts off his noseto spite his face. That is, he makes a situation worse for himself by doing something foolish because he is angry.

More problems can develop if a personlooks down his noseat someone or something. The person acts like something is unimportant or worthless. This person might alsoturn up his noseat something that he considers not good enough. This person thinks he is better than everyone else. He has hisnose in the air.

In school, some studentsthumb their noseat their teacher. They refuse to obey orders or do any work. Maybe these students do not know the correct answers. My mother always told me, if you study hard, the answers should beright under your noseor easily seen.

I think we have explained the nose expressions. What about ears? Well, I hope you areall earsor very interested in hearing more expressions. We might evenput a bug in your earor give you an idea about something. We also advise you tokeep your ear to the ground. This means to be interested in what is happening around you and what people are thinking.

If you are a good person, you willlend an earto your friends. You will listen to them when they have a problem they need to talk about. Our last expression is toplay it by ear. This has two meanings. One is to play a song on a musical instrument by remembering the tune and not by reading the music.Play it by earalso means to decide what to do at the last minute instead of making detailed plans.

People use their mouths for many things. They eat, talk, shout and sing. They smile and they kiss. In the English language, there are many expressions using the word mouth. But some of them are not so nice.

For example, if you say bad things about a person, the person might protest and say “Do not bad mouth me.”

Sometimes, people say something to a friend or family member that they later regret because it hurts that person’s feelings. Or they tell the person something they were not supposed to tell.

The speaker might say: “I really put my foot in my mouth this time.” If this should happen, the speaker might feel down in the mouth. In other words, he might feel sad for saying the wrong thing.

Another situation is when someone falsely claims another person said something. The other person might protest: “I did not say that. Do not put words in my mouth.”

Information is often spread through word of mouth. This is general communication between people, like friends talking to each other. “How did you hear about that new movie?” someone might ask. “Oh, by word of mouth.” A more official way of getting information is through a company or government mouthpiece. This is an official spokesperson. Government-run media could also be called a mouthpiece.

Sometimes when one person is speaking, he says the same thing that his friend was going to say. When this happens, the friend might say: “You took the words right out of my mouth!” Sometimes a person has a bad or unpleasant experience with another person. He might say that experience “left a bad taste in my mouth.” Or the person might have had a very frightening experience, like being chased by an angry dog. He might say: “I had my heart in my mouth.”

Some people have lots of money because they were born into a very rich family. There is an expression for this, too. You might say such a person, “was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.”

This rich person is the opposite of a person who lives from hand to mouth. This person is very poor and only has enough money for the most important things in life, like food.

Parents might sometimes withhold sweet food from a child as a form of punishment for saying bad things. For example, if a child says things she should not say to her parents, she might be described as a mouthy child. The parents might even tell the child to stop mouthing off.

But enough of all this talk. I have been running my mouth long enough.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Dr. Robert Rey is probably the most famous plastic surgeon in the world. Full of talent and charisma. Through hard work and determination he was able to pursue a highly regarded dream of every little boy in Brazil, to become a plastic surgeon. Dr. Rey managed to achieve a bit more than just that. Read this exclusive interview with Dr Rey where he talks about his beginnings, Beverly Hills Dr 90210 the show, his new shapewear line Instant Shape, and what really matters to him in life:

When did your fascination for plastic surgery begin?When I lived in Brazil. Brazil is a country that is very hot, thus bodies are frequently exposed. Brazilian plastic surgeons have contributed vastly to the field of aesthetics, so much so they have risen to heroes in Brazil. Brazilian boys aspire to be plastic surgeons. I’ve always had an interest in science and art, plastic surgery is the perfect marriage of the two.

Which procedures are you most known for?
I have developed my own procedures in plastic surgery, namely sensual cosmetic surgery. I specialize in belly’s, buttocks, vaginas, breasts, lips and noses. For example, tummy tuck, breast lifts, breast augmentations, labia plasties, lip augmentations, liposuctions, buttock augmentations, with fat or implants, etc.

How did you get involved in the hit show Dr 90210 on E! Networks?
I got involved with Dr. 90210 because of the drama show Nip/Tuck, which depicts plastic surgeons as playboys and unethical professionals. I wanted to write a show that showed the real nip/tuck. Dr. 90210 sets the record straight, it shows that most of us are not playboys; in fact we are family men and women. We are certainly living in a fantasy world here in Hollywood, for example, Larry King showed up to my daughter’s birthday party but for the most part we’re pretty normal.

What are some of the challenges of starring in a TV reality show?
Constant cameras on your face are quite tiring. However, in time it becomes Stockholm syndrome. You learn to love your captor.

What advice can you give to someone who is considering plastic surgery for the first time?
Do your homework. Choose your plastic surgeon carefully. Call the medical board of your state to make sure the doctor is in good standings. Make sure your health is up to par.

What are some of the keys for achieving natural looking breast augmentation?Knowing the beautiful normal. Dissect the pocket so that the implants falls in a beautiful tear drop form. Many surgeons leave the implants high and hope they fall down within time, many don’t fall at all.

How was the idea for Dr Rey’s Shapewear line born?
I was introduced to Bruno Schiavi through a mutual friend and we immediately clicked. Since I work millimeters inside the skin and Bruno works millimeters outside the skin it just made sense for us to combine our talents and create a beautiful shapewear collection.

Besides Dr. Rey’s Shapewear, what other projects are you working on at the moment?
A cosmetic cream line and slimming protein shake are my next projects.

What is the most enjoyable part of your job?
Helping the children during my humanitarian missions. Which I do several per year.

What inspires your amazing sense of fashion?
Are you serious? I am Brazilian born! I came from a family of designers. My father was a member of the original mustang team and my brother is a set designer and producer.

What is your philosophy about beauty?
Beauty starts from the inside. If one is ugly inside, there’s no amount of surgery that will make them attractive.

Monday, June 20, 2011

It´s difficult to give an exact figure of the number of languages that exist in the world, because it is not always easy to define what a language is. The difference between a language and a dialect is not always clear-cut. It has nothing to do with similarity of vocabulary, grammar, or pronunciation. Sometimes, the distinctions are based purely on geographical, political, or religious reasons. It is usually estimated that the number of languages in the world varies between 3,000 and 8,000.

There is a list of the world's languages, called "Ethnologue". There are 6,500 living languages listed. Of these, 6,000 have registered population figures. 52% of the 6,000 languages are spoken by less than 10,000 people, and 28% are spoken by less than 1,000 people. 83% of them are limited to single countries.

The ten largest languages in the world are the first languages for nearly half of the world's population.

The figures refer to the number of people who have the language as their first language. If those speakers who have learnt the language as a foreign language were to be included, English might be at the top of the list.
Arabic would be among the 10 most widely spoken languages, if it were to be counted as one language. Ethnologue lists ten variants of spoken Arabic among its top 100. The biggest of these is Egyptian Arabic with 42.5 million speakers. If they were to be counted as one and the same language, Arabic would come out sixth with 175 million speakers, and Wu would drop out of the top ten.

The branch of linguistics which is called comparative philology, has classified the world's languages into different families. All of the relationships within the families are not yet clear, and therefore the classification must be seen as preliminary.

The languages within a family usually share a common language, from which they developed. However, sometimes languages are considered to be related just because they happen to be geographically close to one another.

Monday, June 13, 2011

“Second Love” is a ballad from the album Remedy Lane by the Swedish band Pain of Salvation and is one of the best on the disc. People say that Daniel Gildenlow (leader of the band) wrote this song when he was only eleven years old, which is something incredible because this song sounds far too advanced for someone that age. It depicts a lonely night under the stars – the narrator longing for the girl that he loves. In fact, it is an excellent piece of work. Here is the lyrics:

Day after day
Nothing's changed you're far away
But I need you to know that I can't sleep anymore
By the nights

Night after night
The stars are shining so bright
Though our pain is larger than the universe tonight

I want you to know I can't sleep anymore
By the nights
By the nights

Day after day I want you to say
That you're mine
You are mine

Year after year
Tear after tear
I feel like my heart will break in two
You came like a wind I couldn't defend
You cut my heart so deeply
The scars won't mend

I'll never believe in love anymore
After this
After this
Can never change or rearrange
What we lost
What we lost

Time after time
I am wasting my time
Living in a past where I was strong
But now I am gone
I leave no shadow when I'm alone
I'll stay forever in my dreams where you are near

Want you to know I can't sleep anymore
By the nights
By the nights
Day after day I want you to say
That you're mine
You're mine

And now three videos of the song: the first with subtitles and the others from live shows in Rio and São Paulo at the beginning of June, 2011.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Ever since EPICA emerged on the scene, the band has been caught in a whirlwind of studio recordings, interviews, screaming fans, world wide live performances and the rock 'n roll lifestyle. The loss of both a record company and a drummer in 2006 seemed to have stopped the band on their rise to the top. But all is not what it seems. EPICA is back with a mighty new album called 'The Divine Conspiracy', an exiting new chapter in the history of the band.

The Dutch female fronted symphonic metal band EPICA was founded in 2002. Mark Jansen had left After Forever to pursue his own dreams and found that guitar player Ad Sluijter, bass player Yves Huts and keyboard and piano player Coen Janssen shared his vision. Drummer Jeroen Simons and singer Simone Simons completed the band. The band name is derived from an album of Kamelot of whom several band members are big fans and musically EPICA stands out by not only taking influences from the world of rock and (symphonic) metal, but also from film music as composed by the likes of Danny Elfman and Hans Zimmer.

Within a few months EPICA had the material to record the stunning debut album 'The Phantom Agony'. The album was released worldwide in 2003 and was followed by a lengthy tour. EPICA's efforts were rewarded in 2004 with an Essent Award (an important Dutch award for talented young bands). While touring continued throughout the year, EPICA recorded and released their second full length album 'Consign To Oblivion' in 2005. The album made it to #12 in the Dutch charts and remained in the Top 100 for 7 weeks. This release also features a guest appearance by Kamelot frontman Roy Khan. With the creative juices flowing, that same year the album 'The Score: An Epic Journey' also saw the light of day. The album consists of the music EPICA wrote for the Dutch movie 'Joyride'. This album is marked by the absence of guitars, drums or even vocals and contains mainly instrumental symphonic songs. After four years of hard work, the band took the time to reflect on the impressive career that took the world by storm. So in 2006 the photo-sound book 'The Road To Paradiso' saw the light of day. It's a detailed description of the band’s history in words and images and contains lots of pictures taken by the band members, professional photographers and even hundreds of fans that contributed their best pictures and words. This book comes together with a unique bonus-cd that features unreleased songs, live material and demo recordings.

The year that started on a high ended in a low when drummer Jeroen Simons decided to quit the band. But it's not in the band's nature to be taken aback. After hundreds of shows in dozens of countries all over the world (including the US, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, most European countries, Israel, Tunisia…) this band had become a well oiled metal machine that is unstoppable. Thanks to the skills of talented God Dethroned drummer Ariën van Weesenbeek EPICA was able to make faster and more complex songs. As with all of their releases, the music on this album was brought to a higher level by the dream team at the Gate Studio: Sascha Paeth, Amanda Somerville and Miro Rodenberg. This new opus is more than 75 minutes long and is EPICA's first concept album. It deals with the theory that, as a test, God created all kinds of different religions and released those upon humanity to see if they would be able to find the true nature of them.
From: www.epica.nl

. Sharks, like other fish, have their reproductive organs in their chests.
2. Turtles can breathe through their butts.
3. A pig's orgasm lasts for 30 minutes.
4. Hippo milk is pink.
5. A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.
6. Dogs have four toes on their hind feet, and five on their front feet.
7. Honeybees never sleep.
8. If you keep a goldfish in the dark, it will eventually turn white
9. A slug has four noses.
10. Starfish don't have brains.
11. Termites work 24 hours per day and they do not sleep.
12. A cow produces 200 times more gas a day than a person.
13. Vultures fly without flapping their wings.
14. Turtles can live for more than 100 years.
15. Turkeys can reproduce without having sex.
16. The penguin is the only bird that can swim, but cannot fly.
17. The ant can lift things 10 times its own weight.
18. Spiders have transparent blood.
19. Some lions mate over 50 times a day.
20. Only male fireflies can fly.
21. Iguanas have two penises!
22. Hyenas regularly eat the feces of other animals!
23. Frogs cannot swallow without blinking.
24. Female canaries cannot sing.
25. Elephants are the only animals that can't jump.
26. Dragonflies have six legs but cannot walk!
27. Dolphins sleep with one eye open!
28. Crocodiles swallow stones to help them dive deeper.
29. Cat urine glows under a black light.
30. Butterflies taste with their feet.
31. At birth, a panda bear is smaller than a mouse.
32. At 188 decibels, the whistle of the blue whale is the loudest sound produced by any animal.
33. Ants, like honeybees, don't sleep.
34. Anteaters prefer termites to ants.
35. An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
36. An albatross can sleep while it flies.
37. A shrimp's heart is in its head.
38. A moth has no stomach.
39. A dragonfly has a lifespan of 24 hours.
40. A cockroach will live nine days without it's head, before it starves to death.